rainy fall day - two word challenge (say goodbye)

{15 photos, for those gathering on dial-up}

we've had the greyest fall ever, it seems...yet the moist air and earth seep into my soul, nourishing it. i tend to look closer at the small details when there's less flash (i.e., sunshine, waves, etc.) around to distract me. the earth seems to be making one last push at verdancy, despite the desolateness of a singular crumpled brown leaf atop a lilypad, or lillie's adirondack chair that somehow gets dragged back out from the chair pile, not yet ready for winter. there's growth amidst decay, as nature tries to both sustain and say goodbye.

so lillie and i head outside and hop into the kayak. getting it into the water from shore is more of a chore once the water is too cold to step into. so we climb in, kayak half on shore and half in the water, and push and slide the kayak the rest of the way out, until it floats freely. as do our spirits, and we push off with great abandon.

lillie claims more of the paddling now that she's a self-proclaimed "big girl," so i get us to the channel (four houses down) and then she takes over. more time for me to take pictures, she claims, and so i do.

paddling at lillie-pace is so very different from life at lillie-pace (which is energetic, to say the least). she's learning to do a few paddles on one side, and then switch to the other. she learns to avoid the branches and the tall lilypads. she does enjoy going under willow trees, laughing at being tickled. one time we circled the willow 7 times. yes, 14 tickles. life is good.  don't you just love fall?

copyright 2006, jessica voigts